The Top 40

That was fun. And a reminder of the the difference between utility and luxury that applies to more than electronics.

Like most everything else these days Amazon reviews are mostly worthless. Everything has 75% good reviews and 25% bad and the quality of the reviews is dismal. It is now more arduous to purchase stuff online than it it in person. And with manufacturing quality control in the shitter I'm not buying much of anything at all. Slowly I am changing back into about 1994, maybe earlier.

How timely. I just had a long conversation with a couple of Baby Boomers, sparked off by one guy's BMW R69S. Both of these guys were plus or minus 45, I'd guess, and both of them were starting to question their addiction to electronic toys. The motorcycle owner admitted that his (somewhat older) girlfriend likened his iGadget to an ankle monitor, which is certainly the way I see 'em.

The point of this, to me, was once again the sharp divide between war babies and Boomy Babers. I swear to God I cannot imagine an American born before 1946 who would even consider wiping his ass with $100 bills in the form of buying shiny electronic toys. I have categorically never heard anybody justify his "need" for a cell phone in any form that didn't sound exactly like a television commercial.

"I have Chiiiillllldren" - So did your parents, and yet here you are.

"What if you have an emergency and you can't call for help?" - I'll die, maybe. But I won't die while I'm on the phone with some idiot at a call center.

"I'm never out of touch, even when I'm on vacation." - Being "out of touch" is the whole point of taking a trip, you moron.

I dunno, with the increasing disappearance of public telephones I'll probably cave in and buy a burner the next time I get out on the road. Or maybe not. But anybody who's invested in Staying Ahead Of The Curve to the extent of setting fire to money every few months, just to have the latest Junior Woodchuck Secret Decoder Ring in his pocket, is an imbecile.

So say I.

I find it almost unbearably creepy the way people run around transfixed by the tiny screen. Constantly thumbling messages, playing games, talking to an invisible third party, they are totally oblivious to the world around them.
But Rob De Witt- an R69S? Prettiest thing on two wheels! I had a 1967 R69S back in the 70's. Had it set up with a solo saddle, Earles fork, and a pair of glass packs that gave it the mellowest exhaust note of any bike around. Who cared if it was slow? And it is the only machine (including the Harley) that I really regret selling.

JWM

Ya mon - an unrestored barn find he came across while on a solo ride to Colorado. Went back with a u-haul and bought it, and it looks just like yours did: gorgeous.

Oh yeah, it was a '67, too.

Oh yeah - speaking of Colorado and phonoholism,have y'all seen this one yet?

http://abcnews.go.com/US/12-year-girl-accused-poison-mother-taking-iphone/story?id=29807372

It ain't gonna get better. Keep in mind that a lot of the early-adopters of McJobs devices were the same ones telling you to kill your television. Remember that?

Not, of course, that there's anything wrong with that.....